Plate feinting press



(No Model.) 2 Shggeis-Sheet 1.

J. S. IVES.

PLATE PRINTING PRESS. a

No.276,591-. Patented May 1,1883.

' Illlllllllllllhl m mmmmmw (No Model 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. S. IVES.

PLATE PRINTING PRESS.

No. 276,591. Patented May 1,1883.

. UNITED STATES PATENT OFF-Ice;

JOSEPH s. IVES, on NEW YORK, N,

PLATE-PRINTING PRESS.

SPEGIFICATION fo rming part of Letters Patent No. 276,591, dated May 1, 1883.

' Application filed December 16, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

, Be it known that I, JOSEPH S. hues, of New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Plate-Printing Presses; and 1 do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to theaccompanyingdrawings, making part of this application.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in plate -printing presses, and is more particularly adapted to that species of press of the kind referred to which is shown and described in another application for Letters Patent by me, now pending in the United States Patent Office, and in which is employed a wiper and polisher that revolves axially over the center of the plate, and an inking-roller that stands still during the movement of the plate in one direction, thus acting to wipe off a portion of the ink rolled onto the plate during its movement in another direction'.

a Previous to my present invention thewiping and polishing pad or device (of thekind referred to) hasbeen made with numerousspiral metallic springs embodied between the plate or inflexible portion of the body of the polisher and its cushion-like operative portion, and a cloth has been combined with the pad in such a manner that by periodical shiftin gs of said cloth (uslr ally through the medium of automatic means for moving it) fresh portions of the latter would be successively brought into operation on the plate. To a polishing-pad thus made there are two objections, which I propose to overcome by my presentinvention. One is the expense, complexity, and liability ofderangement in the mass of metallic spiral springs used as a backing to the pad proper and the uneven action of such a yielding backing to the pad or rubbing-surface of the polisher, and the other is the tendency and liability of the cloth covering of the pad toget crinkled and out of shape on account of the frictional action of the pad on the plate opera ating to drag the cloth loose near one side of thelatter. I propose to overcome the objec tionsto the kind of yielding backing heretofore used by the employment of a series of rubber tubes arranged side by side and occupying the space between the plate or rigid backing and the cushionlike flexible pad proper, and operating to re-enforce each other when any one or more shall be partially flattened by the pressure of the plate against the pad proper; and I propose to overcome the difficulty mentioned, resulting from the liability, in polishers as heretofore made, of the cloth covering to get crinkled up, by using two breadths of cloth instead of one, each arranged to feed or move in an opposite direction to that of the motion of the other, the arran gement of the two being such relatively to the designed direction of rotation of the polisher that the rubbing action on the plate will tend to always draw and keep taut each of the said breadths of cloth. a

Previous to my present invention an objection in the. use of inking-rolls, as heretofore made, especially such rolls as have been used in the manner above alluded to by me'--Viz.,so as to roll on the plate as the latter moves in one direction and to act witha scraping action as the plate moves in the other direction-has arisen from the difficulty of conveniently renewing the clothing or peripheral covering'of the rollers it has required renewing, (on account of the collection thereon of ink and the spoiling of said covering-surface,) for the purpose of properly applying to and rubbing into the lines of the plate the ink. I propose to overcome this objection by the use, in combinationwith a roller provided with a perma uent covering or clothing, of a readily removableand renewable clothingandinking-surface, composed simply of a few yards of cloth of the proper kind wound on the periphery of the roll in the proper direction, and so that it can be stripped off or unwound and substituted by another at pleasure.

' My present invention may therefore be said to consist, first, in a novel sort of yielding or elastic backing to the pad-like and rubbing device of the polisher, composed of a series of rubber tubes arranged side by side and between the rigid back and the flexible face of the pad or polisher, as will be hereinafter more fully explained; second, in a novel arrangement of two widths or breadths of cloth for the movable covering of the polishcr, the two being made to operate so that the tendency of wound onto the roll in the proper direction, as"

will be hereinafter explained. q

To enable those skilled in the art to which my several improvements appertain to under-- stand and practice the same, I will now proceed to more fully explain the construction and operation of a plate-printing press embodying my said invention.

At Figure 1, Sheet 1, of the drawingswhich form part of this specification I have shown in elevation a machine of the type and species to which my improvements more particularly relate, and embracing said improvements,while in Sheet2 of said drawings I have shown more plainly (by detail views of the parts on an enlarged scale) the several features of my invention, substantially as I have so far practiced them.

In the several figures the same parts will be found designated by the same letters of reference,and atFigs.2and3areshown respectively, in cross-sections,theinking-roller with the permanent covering and said roller with both the permanent and the removable clothing. At

-Figs. 4 and 5 are shown, respectively in crosssection and side view, so much of the wiper and polisher as is necessary to be illustrated for the purpose of explaining myimprowments in this part of the press.

In the several figures, A is the wiper and polisher, and B theinking-roller. The latter is supposed to be adapted to operate as described in my other pending casei. a, so as to have its periphery roll on the surface of the plateP as the bed of the press moves in the direction indicated by the arrow, and so as to be held still while the bed and plate P reciprocate in the opposite direction, and 1 have not therefore deemed it necessary to either show or describe in this case the means for operating an inking-roll in this manner. Neither does it seem to me to be necessary to explain here anything concerning the construction or operation of any of the parts of the press except those to which my present improvements relateviz.,those parts composingthe wiper and polisher and composing the inking-roller. The wiper and polisher is composed, as shown, (see Fig. 4,) of the usual metallic or other rigid back plate, m, and pad-like face-portion 0; but, in lieu of the usual mass of springs generally located between said portions m and 0, I employ a series of rubber tubes, 8 s, of the proper diameter and strength, arranged, as shown, side by side, of equal length and about as long as the working-face of the polisher. So far as I have yet practiced this part of my invention, 1 have found it expedient to use in a polishing-pad made about five inches long by four wide (for working in small plates) six or eight tubes, made by cutting into equal lengths ordinary rubber tubing, such as found in the market, of half-inch diameter, with about a quarter-inch bore; but of course the size and character of the rubber tubing may be varied in the judgment of the skilled constructer and operator, and according to the size of the polisher and other surrounding circumstances. These rubber tubes, when arranged, as shown, so as to hear at the uppermost portions of their surfaces against the bottom of plate at and at their lowermost portions on the inner surface of the flexible pad-like device 0, and so as to bear against each other at their side portions, operate to afford a very uniform but sufficiently elastic support or backing to the device 0 of the polisher. They re-enforce each other when slightly flattened, (in the direction of their vertical diameters,) and I have found by practice that they operate, in the aggregate, to render the working-surface'of the pad exceedingly mobile, and at the same time give it just the right sort of yielding capacity to produce the best results. At the same time they form a simple, durable, and exceedingly cheap means for the purposes described.

Instead of using a single breadth of cloth, (of the usual and proper quality and kind,) as heretofore, (and as shown in my other pending application,) to cover the pad-like surface 0 of the wiper and polisher, I use now two pieces, (marked g and 9 each of which is about equal in width to one-half the length of the pad, and each of which moves in a direction opposite to that inwhich the other moves during the usual operation of intermittently feeding along the cloth to keep the part of it in, use comparatively clean or fresh. One arrangement of these two cloths g 9 and the rolls from which they are unwound and on which they are rewound, is shown in the drawings, and consists of two rolls, 0 0 mounted on suitable arbors, e, and containing the supplies of cloth, and one roller, f, on which both pieces of cloth are Wound up. Small idlers i i (or round bars) are to be used, as shown, to facilitate a perfect movement of each cloth.

The arrows indicate the directions of motion of the webs g and g as they are unwound from c and c and wound up onf; and it will be seen that, assuming either of the cloths to have a direction of movementrelative to the direction of the axial rotation of the polishers A such as will cause the rubbing action between said cloth and the plate to operate to keep the said cloth taut on its roll, the other cloth must in like manner he kept tight. Hence all por tions of both the movable cloths are always kept smooth and taut over the working-surface of the pad.

' The inking-roller B, which, as stated, is of that kind which first rolls against the surface of the plate P and then stands still and wipes or scrapes off some of the superfluous ink put on, has apermanent covering, h, of-cloth (wound on,) and: a rubber'cloth envelope, 1',

(see Fig. 2,) whichis placed over the cloth h, and which serves to hold the said packing It (so to speak) in place. This gives the rollerB the proper peripheral condition, and in practice. I have so far found (on a small-sized machine) that about one-eighth of an inch is a sufficient thickness for the packing or permanent clothing h, covered with a thin rubber, t, either in the form of a tube stretched over and fastened on, or of a sheet wound round and its ends cemented in place.

J is a piece of cloth, of the usual and proper kind and texture, for receiving the ink and applying it to the plate. It is, as I have so far used my new plan, three or four yards long, and is simply wound tightly onto the periphery of the inking-roller, as illustrated rection opposite to that in which it moved when the roller was turning on its axis the scraping action of the plate against the cloth.

wrapper J will also tend to tighten said cloth on the roller. Of course, as soon as some ink is applied to the wrapper-cloth J its loose end is secured in place, and during all subsequent action the cloth. J is worked into and held fast in place on its roller B. Whenever this unsecured coveringor wrapper J shall have become too foul for proper work or should be 1enewed, all the operator has to do is to unwind it or slip it off and rewind onto the roller another new wrapper of the same material.

It will be seen that with this improvement the working-surface of the inking-roller may be renewed as frequently as may be found desirable, with little trouble and at trifling expense.

Of course, asto each of the features of invention which I have described and shown, variations in detail may be made, in the discretionof the skilled constructer and operator, according to circumstances, and although I have shown and described all of myimprovements as embodied in one machine, either one of them can be used with more or less advantage in a machine not embodying the others.

WhatI claim as new in this application, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- l 1. A wiper and polisher pad provided with a series of rubber tubular devices arranged between the rigid back at and the flexible surface 0, and operating to atlord an elastic backing to the wiping-face of the pad, substantially as set forth.

2. In combination with thewiper and polisher A, a duplex moving surface-cloth, the two parts 9 and g of which are adapted to be moved in opposite directions, in the mannerand for the purpose setforth.

3. In combination with the inking-roller B, provided with a permanent covering or clothing, h i, a removable wrapper, J, composed of a strip of cloth or other suitable material, which is simply wound upon and which. may be unwound from the inking-roller, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have herewith set my hand and affixed my seal this. 14th day of December, 1882.

i JOS. S. IVES. [L. s.]

In presence of- V H. G. J ANVIER, M. H. SMITH. 

